Nexstar CEO Perry Sook said he still fully expects the local TV giant’s pending deal to acquire rival Tegna will get approved despite some surprisingly adversarial comments recently by President Trump.

The exec appeared Monday at the UBS Global Media and Communications Conference for a panel focused largely on the $6.2 billion merger proposed earlier this year . Nexstar and other broadcasters have been lobbying federal regulators to do away with the ownership cap, with that step crucial in order for the Nexstar-Tegna deal to be approved. Currently, a single company may own stations reaching no more than 39% of U.S. households. As proposed, the Nexstar-Tegna deal would double that footprint.

Trump expressed concern in one of his typically feverish social media posts that lifting

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